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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056140">Matching Heartbeats</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neongoldx/pseuds/Neongoldx'>Neongoldx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>K-pop, SEVENTEEN (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Feels, Chwe Hansol | Vernon Being An Idiot, Chwe Hansol | Vernon-centric, F/M, Fluff and Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:42:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neongoldx/pseuds/Neongoldx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in a dystopian world where every young adult gets matched with their supposed soulmate by The System the government has put in placed.</p><p> </p><p>*additional warnings*  trouble with eating, depression (though it’s not out right mentioned), angst, lots of sadness I’m sorry</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chwe Hansol | Vernon &amp; Everyone, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Everyone, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/Reader, Chwe Hansol | Vernon/You, SEVENTEEN Ensemble &amp; Original Character(s), SEVENTEEN Ensemble &amp; Original Female Character(s), SEVENTEEN Ensemble &amp; Reader, SEVENTEEN Ensemble/Everyone, SEVENTEEN Ensemble/Original Character(s), SEVENTEEN Ensemble/Original Female Character(s), SEVENTEEN Ensemble/Other(s), SEVENTEEN Ensemble/Reader, SEVENTEEN Ensemble/SEVENTEEN Ensemble</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Matching Heartbeats</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were sides of Vernon that unfortunately weren’t reserved for you, except for one. The one you hated the most and the one you wished you could stray as far away from. The side that received you with a frown and a bitter cold glare. The side that spoke to you in short sentences, a sour tone that would weave its way through his voice like vines whenever he spoke to you. It sent shivers down your spine and not the good kind. It was the side that you couldn’t break through to get to the side that was reserved for the people he loved and cared about most in the world. And you weren’t one of those people.</p><p>Maybe this was the way the universe decided to punish you. A punishment you wholeheartedly thought you didn’t deserve because you were tied at your feet with no way out. When you had been matched with Vernon by the System it was either you marry or die. And of course, selfishly you choose to live. You knew he resented you for it, but in the year and a half that you two were officially married, you had secretly seen the warmth that oozed out of his pores. You saw the wide smile that would light up the room whenever darkness poured in. His laugh sounded like a sweet melody that you would never get tired of listening and just his presence made you feel like home.</p><p>Hansol Vernon Chwe was a gift, the purest form of art, a being so powerful you swore he could restore the peace in the world. He could resent you, hate you all he wanted, look at you with an overwhelming amount venom in his eyes. And you’d let him, you could never let yourself regret your final decision because he deserved to live.</p><p>Sighing deeply, you pushed yourself off the elevator walls watching as the hallway to your apartment came into view. This was the part you hated most about your day. It wasn’t the part where you woke up alone, it wasn’t the part where you had to go to work and it wasn’t the hour and a half walk home. It was the short walk from the elevator to your apartment. It never failed to stretch out miles as your heart caught itself in your throat because behind that closed door you weren’t sure what you’d encounter.</p><p>Sometimes it would be a quiet Vernon, sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table with his headphones on. His studio set up scattered all over, a notebook and his unlocked phone next to him. Sometimes it was him quietly sitting at the coffee table eating take out, sometimes it was him on his phone arguing with his mother as he shot piercing glares at you, probably wishing you weren’t alive. And other times it was a dark and cold apartment, nothing out of place. The silence creeping underneath he floorboards, reigning, occupying its throne in between the walls as it desperately tried to push the two of you out.</p><p>For some reason that was the apartment you always found yourself hoping for whenever you stopped in front of your door. Your hand gripping the doorknob tightly every night that it had started getting loose.</p><p>This was a routine by now. You’d put the key in the key lock, turn it until you heard it unlock. Then you’d close your eyes, slowly count ten Mississippi’s, proceed to give yourself a pep talk and then finally biting the bullet and opening the door. Anxiety rushed through you quickly when you saw what was waiting for you behind the door, Vernon on the couch typing quickly on his phone, while the TV beamed with life in front of him. Lighting up the dark living room with undertones of blue.</p><p>“I’m home.” You spoke, a shake in your voice making you wish you were stronger. The door clicked behind you, signaling there would be no way out until tomorrow morning so you might as well bite your tongue and deal with anything you’d encounter tonight.</p><p>“Welcome, I ordered food but wasn’t sure if you wanted any.” He shrugged locking his phone and setting it by his side. He crossed his arms in front of him and turned his attention to the TV.</p><p>“It’s fine I’m not hungry anyway.” You took of your shoes setting them by Vernon’s worn out ones. The hunger swirled inside of you, but you pushed it aside, telling yourself that you’d find something to eat once he was asleep in the guest bedroom that by now had become his room. “Mhm, you are eating right?” He said a hint of concern in the back of his throat, but that could’ve been your mind playing games on you. Though the question had caught you off guard and you weren’t sure how to answer without lying because in truth for a while now your appetite had severely gone down.</p><p>“I am, had a big lunch with one of my coworkers.” Vernon nodded at your answer, finally turning to face you, furrowing his eyebrows. You tried to ignore his gaze, relax your body as much as you could and placed your bag down on one of the highchairs in front of the kitchen island. “My family’s coming over tomorrow, my mom wants to cook dinner…you don’t have to be here if you don’t want.” He blurted out the last part, hollowing out the part of your heart that was reserved for him. You loved Vernon’s family as much as you loved him, but unlike him they had been very welcoming of you. Embraced you with open arms and you found comfort knowing that at least a part of him loved you.</p><p>“I’ll be there.” You whispered shrugging of your coat and placing it on the back of the chair. “I have a day off tomorrow so I can clean up around here before they come over…I mean if that’s fine with you and all, I don’t want to make things uncomfortable.”</p><p>“Do whatever you want.” He spat out leaning back on the couch. His tone returning to the one you were used to hearing and you knew you had overstayed your welcome in the living room. “Right, I’m going to bed then.” You nodded walking past him and straight to your room, closing the door behind you quickly and resting your back against it. You breathed out a sad sigh of relief feeling the tears build up behind your eyelids, the hunger gnawing its way through your stomach ripping it to shreds. As well as your need for some sort of comfort, as you came to your first realization of the night. Just like it washed over you every single night and for once you wished you didn’t feel so alone, when the person that was supposed to love you stood on the other side not caring.</p><p>Oddly there was a side of you that loved Vernon and maybe it was the side that kept holding onto the hope you first felt when you were given the news. Or maybe it was the image of him that you created in your head from all the fragments of light he let out whenever he thought you weren’t looking. But you loved him that was something you were confident in because you saw him for who he was flaws and all when the two of you weren’t alone.</p><p>“Fuck.” You pushed yourself off your door throwing yourself on your unmade made and grabbing the turtle stuffed animal you slept with every night. It brought you a small sense of comfort and any comfort you could get you would grab and indulge in it blissfully. It was small and useless in the long run.</p><p>You buried your head into the head of the stuffed animal, finally letting the dam loose and the sobs came in full throttle. Thankfully the TV in the living room was loud enough to muffle your sounds. It wouldn’t matter if he could hear you anyway because you knew he wouldn’t be running into your room like a knight in shining armor and save you from yourself. He just didn’t care and that was the second realization you would have every night. Each time you did, it sent a jab through your body, cracking the little wall that kept the small sliver of light you held onto dearly. Each night though you felt it flicker slowly losing its innocent glow. Sometimes you’d wonder when the light would finally die out, when the numbness would finally overtake your body and you could go on with life without feeling like you were worthless. Without feeling anything.</p><p>“Can I come in?” You sat up on your bed at lightning speed. Vernon’s soft voice sounding from the other side of your door. A knock following in between syllables. Your breathing sped up and you brought your hands up to your cheeks slapping your tears away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of him seeing you in this state. “U-Um yeah.” You spoke moving to rest against the headboard of your bed, grabbing your laptop on your bedside table and opening it to make it seem like you were doing something other than crying.</p><p>“I brought you chicken as I couldn’t finish it all.” He walked in, a styrofoam container in his left hand. His aura taking over the air in your room and you felt as if you were suffocating. You watched as he slowly took in your room and your face heating up as you remembered the untidy state of your room. His eyes lingering on the wall of polaroid’s behind your even messier desk.</p><p>The girl in those pictures, the one who’s smiled reached her eyes and laugh still lingered in the small cracks on the walls of your room was someone that was unknown to you now. On days when you couldn’t bring yourself to get out of bed you looked at her as a sign of motivation. Telling yourself that that person was still within you and that she would come back you just had to fight through whatever you were going through. At the end of the day she always came back.</p><p>“Oh, I’m not hungry.” You closed your laptop and set it aside, the forgotten google tab opened waiting to be used. “I can have it for lunch tomorrow though.” You brought your knees up to chest and wrapped your arms around them. To avoid his curious gaze, you looked out the window, the moonlight shinning down at the skyline. You wondered if they were at peace unlike you.</p><p>“Why do you cry every night?” Vernon blurted out. He had placed the container on your desk and sat down on the foot of your bed. His back turned to you. The question had caught you off guard as you searched through the files in your brain in order to come up with an excuse. Yet, you came out unsuccessful and decided to just finally confess to him. You had nothing left to lose. “I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you?” You choked out biting your lip to keep the sob that threatened to spill locked away in the back of your throat.</p><p>“You can’t love…you barely know me.” He turned to face you and for the first time in a long time you couldn’t read the emotion that was playing against his features.</p><p>“Maybe I don’t love the person I’m faced with every day, but I do love the person I see whenever you let your guard down around your friends and family.”</p><p>“But aren’t you tired of all of this? He raised an eyebrow, lifting his palm up and signaling all around the room as if the extra gesture would help prove his point.</p><p>“Exhausted.” You breathed out your shoulders falling as you felt yourself fall apart little by little in front of him. “Then why not hate me?” Vernon brought his legs up to your bed and crossed them underneath him. This was the longest the two of you had spoken or been in each other’s presence and although it was suffocating there was a small ring of light that lingered between the two of you.</p><p>“Because as much as I want to sometimes, I can’t bring myself to hate someone that’s hurting inside as well.”</p><p>The deafening silence that the two of you had grown accustomed to entangling itself in the warmth that was lingering above the two of you now. Somehow bringing the two of you a sense of comfort in the midst this confusing situation you found yourselves in. Although you could feel like you could breathe again, the question that still kept you up at night stayed put in the back of your throat waiting to finally be let out into the world. For months you had pushed it back, deciding you already knew the answer to it. But as you sat in front of Vernon, his soft eyes dancing between your puffy ones you weren’t sure anymore. So, you put your preconceived notions aside as well as your pride and opened your mouth, letting the question run out to freedom. Your heart racing as you anticipated his answer.</p><p>“Why do you hate me so much?”</p><p>“I don’t hate you, truthfully I don’t think I could ever hate you.”</p><p>“Then why can’t you love me back?” You whispered shutting your eyes. Your hold on your legs getting tighter.</p><p>“Because I can’t bring myself to do so no matter how hard I want to sometimes, especially when I listen to you cry every night. I wish…I want to set everything aside and hold you. I want to make you feel less alone…but I can’t.” Vernon let out a frustrated sign running his hands through his hair and tugging at his roots in desperation. The sight made your heart wrench. You wanted to reach over and hug him, give him the comfort you craved.</p><p>“W-Why?”</p><p>“I feel guilty.” He nodded resting his forearms against his knees finally breaking his eye contact with you. Searching your room rapidly for another point of focus and finally settling on the humidifier on your bedside table. “I feel guilty because before I met you, I had chosen to live, not knowing that I would be the reason why your light would start to fade as the days went by.”</p><p>Without a second thought you let go of your legs, maneuvering yourself around your bed and wrapped your arms around him tightly. Finally breaking the barrier that silently lingered between the two of you.</p><p>You buried your face into his neck letting your tears run freely for the second time that night. Though this time instead of feeling the loneliness you had felt earlier, you felt a sense of relief wash over you.</p><p>Vernon felt himself hesitate for a moment feeling overwhelmed as he felt your touch for the first time, not knowing he missed it. A thought he couldn’t explain because how was he missing something he had never had the pleasure of feeling. But he pushed it aside and hugged you back, letting the tears he had kept in for far too long out in the open. He wasn’t happy but he felt like he could be happy if this was what it felt like to finally have you in his arms. He held you tightly, gripping onto you and burying his nose in your hair taking in your scent, one he decided right then and there he would never grow tired of. The two of you basking in each other’s arms, your hearts racing against one another and it overwhelmed the two of you greatly.</p><p>“I know we have a lot of things to get through but I’m willing to start over if you are.” You whispered removing your arms from his body and sitting back on your knees. You whipped your tears with the back of your hand, letting out a small laugh and shook your head in disbelief before holding your hand out for him to shake.</p><p>Vernon smiled widely, chuckling before taking your hand in his. The feeling was enough to send shivers up his spine. The good kind.</p><p>For the first time that night he had a realization. A secret that he would carry out to his grave, unless you prodded it out of him and with how things were going, he was sure that you would succeed at it too. But for now, he would keep it to himself and enjoy the way your touch felt against his skin and the way your smile was enough to have his heart beating out of time.</p><p>“I’m Hansol Vernon Chwe, your husband.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading let me know your thoughts :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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